Cardwell, MT
How exposed is Cardwell to wildfire?
Cardwell sits at the 80th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 67 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Cardwell's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 75th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Of Cardwell's 67 counted buildings, 97% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
Cardwell against the rest of the country
Cardwell's 80th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 53rd ranking inside Montana does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 27 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cardwell ranks 6,339 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 30,388 by building count (1 is largest). Within Montana alone, it ranks 225 of 475 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Montana on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Cardwell
Cardwell's high rating (80th percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Because Direct exposure dominates in Cardwell (97%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Cardwell's 80th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Cardwell, see the exposure-zones guide.